Luis A Lara Malvacías                       
 

G - 2018

 

Commissioned by: Sasha Waltz & Guests

Radial System. Berlin, Germany. July 7th and 8th, 2018

 

Created by Luis A Lara Malvacías & Jeremy Nelson

Performed by: Luis A Lara Malvacías & Jeremy Nelson

Music: Ivo Bol

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G is part of the larger project entitled From A to Z that originally began with the idea of 6 duets A B C D E F.

 

G (as in Ground) is a work where our regular practice was contextualized within a defined and limited space, a ground inhabited by random objects and material that served as conduits – and sometimes obstacles – and that helped us to further explore the concept of duration, or the way we perceive the space between two successive events.

 

Part of our practice of performance involves constantly internally scanning our bodies for impulses that accumulate through the process and duration of the performance, sometimes resisting those impulses - which becomes a performative action in itself - and sometimes letting them be. It is an intimate labor and a slow process that gives the audience time to observe and digest the situation, whatever that might be at any given moment. We invite the audience to observe our process of aging (time passing) in a "LI(V/F)E" situation.

 

In G, during the first section, we used a different strategy for the process of scanning our bodies. This time, we reversed the scanning situation by observing the audience to facilitate readings of our own bodies' neurological system. Wearing an EEG band (Electroencephalography band) that our composer and sound designer, Ivo Bol had connected to a sound patch he created, it enabled us to trigger sounds by closing our eyes to relax our minds. How can the body relax in a situation of vulnerability, such as performing? The higher alpha waves produced by this activity were then sent to the computer - via the EEG - triggering or altering the sound (and sometimes light). 

 

" Nelson and Malvacías, they tell the audience, have made it their mission to understand new things and to recognize the known and let go. When Malvacías jumps at the end of the performance in bright pink hotpants with a neon-colored plastic flower across the stage, there is even more reason to think about Kazuo Ohno - with a big wink on life with all its transience ... and transformative power." Christine Matschke. Dancing With Time. Tanzschreiber. 2018